>Apple could literally release a phone with zero changes to it over the previous "generation" and billions would still want it.
Yes, but not because of the mindless sheep angle you seem to want it to be. Lots of people are comfortable using iPhones and like how they work. They don't want to to switch to something else. The End.
What is there to explain about the iPhone X? It's the best new phone from Apple. If you keep a phone for two years and use it daily, then the hardware costs around $2 / day so it's affordable.
If that's the ecosystem you are in and want a new phone, then that's a pretty reasonable choice.
Less than $2 a day with resale value. And service costs more than $2 a day. So if you are given a free phone, you are still spending more than half as much as an iPhone X. If you get a "cheap" $500 phone you are spending at least 80% as much as an iPhone X.
I'm upgrading from my iPhone 6+, so in my case 3 years. And it works out to about $1 a day. Which is in the whatever category.
Expensive, sure, but at this point skipping every other generation or every every third generation is fine. The main reason for upgrading is the battery is starting to ghost. Its max charge is 1900mah from its original 2800(ish? i forget exactly)mah.
Call me a sheep if you want but I've tried my friends android phones and even have a nexus tablet. It just doesn't do it for me. Plus getting rid of all my high scores in games is no bueno. I've spent many years in lines perfecting them.
Yes, but not because of the mindless sheep angle you seem to want it to be. Lots of people are comfortable using iPhones and like how they work. They don't want to to switch to something else. The End.